Tomato Soup
by PurpleCookieCat
Summary: Lost outside the walls during an expedition, young scouts Linden Malkin and Aleo Fletcher must venture back to the safety of Wall Rose. Afterwords, more trials face them, not just titan related.
1. Chapter 1

The night air was bitter cold, with only the soft hoot of a far off owl breaking the silence. A small village sat in the middle of the wide-open plains, one of the abandoned rural villages from when Wall Maria was still intact. The buildings made of wood were rotten, those made of brick and stone crumbling from half a decade of no upkeep. The small bell tower in the center was the only structure not in a state of total disrepair.

In the bell house, a human figure was perched. In her hand was a small candle, which she used to read the map in her other hand. She squinted in the bright light, trying to read the water-damaged paper. Having been chased over a kilometer off course by an aberrant; she and her companion were stuck in this village, with no hope of the scouts returning for them. Eventually, she groaned in frustration and lowered the map, turning to face her companion. In the corner was a boy around their age, Aleo Fletcher. He was wrapped in a bloodied Scout Regiment cloak. A bandage stained red was wrapped around his forehead, his short black hair crusted with blood from the bandaged wound. His blue eyes were half-open, and he looked dazed, starring at the wall. He had been their partner for the mission, and while he managed to take down the aberrant, which threw them so off course, he took a pretty bad fall. Most likely he had sustained a concussion, although it wasn't clear how serious. His gear clunked as he shifted his legs, eyes opening slightly wider like he was coming back to reality. They fixed on Linden, a look of confusion on his face. Where his voice was hoarse, weak. Where are we? "I have no idea." Linden replied, still straining her eyes to read the map.

Aleo struggled to sit upright against the mossy stone wall. Raising a hand to his forehead, he hissed in pain when his palm made contact with the wound. "Ahh... christ, that hurts." Aleo looked around the bell tower. "Are we still outside the walls?"

She folded the map and put it in her jacket's pocket, and looked at her partner with a look of fear and longing. "I'm afraid so."

His face drained of color upon hearing those words. The realization of being stranded in Titan country, coupled with his head injury that was keeping him from thinking clearly, caused panic to boil up inside of him. "God...what the hell happened? What happened to the formation? Did they leave us behind?!"

Linden's eyes glistened in the candlelight as she replied, "I hope not. Maybe they'll look for us, but we can only hope..."

She sat down and covered herself in her cloak, and shivered with fear and because of the cold unforgiving breeze that seemed to penetrate all layers of clothing.  
Aleo forced himself to take a shaky breath and calm his nerves. If anyone had seen them thrown off course, he reasoned, there was a chance a search party may be sent out to find them. Although, that was a pretty small chance. Most likely they would be put down as MIA and they'd leave it at that. "Well..." Aleo started after gathering his nerves and clearing his head best he could..."on the off chance they don't, we need to figure out a way to get back to Wall Rose. But...I'm not sure how..."

Hiding deeper in her cloak, Linden whispered, "I barley have any gas and our horses ran off. The only way we can hope to get back is to run to the Wall, and hope a titan doesn't get us in the process... The only question is, which way is the wall?"

Aleo looked over to the corner of the bell tower where Linden had set his 3D gear before bandaging him up while he was unconscious. The main device and hand-grips looked okay, albeit scratched up, as did the gas tanks. However, the left blade sheath was crumpled on the bottom from the fall he took, the blades in it shattered to pieces. It could still hold the gas tank, but it would cause a serious imbalance if used. "Looks like my gear got pretty banged up as well...God, without our gear, we're dead..."

Suddenly, his blue eyes lit up with a spark of ingenuity. "Hey, let me see the map real quick."

Linden looked at him curiously, hoping for good news. "Okay," she handed Aleo the map, "it's a little hard to read."

His eyes scanned over it, and he grinned. "Oh, thank goodness! I think I have an idea of how we can get back!" He looked up to her, beaming and showing her the map. "Remember how the Scouts were setting up a supply line to retake Wall Maria? You know, before Trost was sealed off?"

"Yeah...?" she replied, trying to see into what he was getting at.

"Well, all the supplies are still lying at their checkpoints, untapped. Not only that, but the nearest one is only a little under two kilometers away! If we get there, we can fill up on fuel and I can fix my gear. Maybe we can get some other supplies too! Then, all we need to do is follow the checkpoints back to Trost and climb over the wall," Aleo explained, grinning wider as he went on.

She looked at him, astonished. "That's...Aleo, you're a genius!" she exclaimed. "But...should we go now, or should we rest for a while longer?"

"Oh, we need to rest, definitely." He flinched as he pulled his leg up under the cloak. It ached from when he took his fall, but thankfully it didn't feel broken. He leaned his head against the wall, folding up the map and tucking it into his vest pocket. "We don't need to take watch since the Titans aren't active this late at night. Let's try and get out of here before dawn though, we'll need the head start."

"Alright." Linden replied, Pulling the hood of her cloak over her ginger hair. "You know, we might just make it thanks to this plan of yours," she said as she smiled for the first time since the mission started.

"That we might," Aleo nodded, closing his eyes.  
The two scouts fell silent, and were soon asleep.

Later in the night, Linden shook in her sleep, and cried out several times. Her cries were enough to wake Aleo, who blinked groggily before rubbing his eyes. Seeing Linden having a nightmare, he scooted over to her and shook her shoulder lightly. "Hey," he said softly. "Hey, wake up." Her eyes shot open, and she screamed.

"Whoa, hey, easy," he said quietly, trying to put her at ease. "You were only dreaming."

"What...?" She looked at Aleo. "It was just so terrible...it felt so real..."

"What happened?" Aleo asked, tilting his head a little. "What did you see in your dream?"

Not wanting to talk about it, but at the same time she wanted to get out, she replied hesitantly, "It took place in my town, Hermia, it started out normal. My dad was working somewhere else, and my mom was at home. Me and my little brother were playing on the street outside our home. Then suddenly, titans started appearing, eating up everyone in sight...Soon I was the only one left, and I went running for my life." She put her hand on her eyes. "Not like it actually happened though. Hermia is safe and sound."

"Well, at least your family safe inside the walls," Aleo said. He paused, and looked out the window. There was still a few hours till sunup. "We should get as much sleep as we can, we're going to need it."

"I know, but I can't go back to sleep. You can go ahead," Linden sighed.

His eyes scanned over her, concern evident in them. "Alright. If you need anything, wake me." With that, he laid back against the wall and shut his eyes. Linden sat and watched his steady breathing, mulling over the dream. Aleo dosed off slowly, and slipped into his own dream.

"G-get back!" Aleo shouted, raising his lone sword up at the 3 meter class titan stumbling towards them. It's teeth were razor sharp, and protruded from it's mouth and lips like a shark. He held and unconscious Linden up by her shoulder, encumbering him and making it all the more difficult to fight. The titan leaped, and he flinched and tried to pull her away with him. He wasn't fast enough. The beast's teeth tore off her leg, blood soaking the ground and it's maw..

It turned and grabbed her from his grasp before biting into her like slab of ribs, sending a stream of blood and entrails spewing from her corpse, coating the forest floor and poor Aleo, who could only helplessly watch as his partner was devoured.

"NO!" Aleo screamed, suddenly sitting upright, now back in the real world, his skin cold and clammy.

Linden looked at him startled at his sudden wakefulness. "You have a nightmare too?"

He rest his face in his palms, trying to slow his breathing. "Yeah..." he said quietly. "Yeah, I did."

"Care to talk about it?" she said, putting her hand on his shoulder.

He looked up at her, and sighed. "Might as well...We we're stuck out in some open field, with a 3 meter aberrant coming at us. You were knocked out, and I only had one sword. I tried to move you out of it's path, but...I was too slow." He rubbed his forehead with his hand. "And yeah..."

"Oh..." she said. There was a pause, and Linden said, "We should probably head on out now. I don't think you're willing to return to sleep either."

He climbed to his feet, noting the ache in his leg had subsided a decent amount. "Sounds good." He wrapped the cloak around him, and grabbed his 3D gear. As he anticipated, it felt lopsided with the broken blade sheath. Checking his tanks, he noted they were still half-full. "Hey, you said you needed gas, right?"

She looked at him curiously. "I did, why?"

Aleo undid the valves, which hissed as they came off, and removed the canisters. "Mine are half-full, you should take them, since if we find a titan you're the only one with fully functional gear."

Well if that does happen, I'll stand and fight. I'd never leave you behind." she stood up as well, and took the canisters. "Or I could grab you and run"

"We can work it out if it comes to that," he said with a shrug. They traded canisters, and he installed her near empty ones onto his gear. Walking over to the window to check the ground below. No titans were in the village, at least none he could see. "Alright, let's get out of here and find that checkpoint."

"Which way is it?" Linden asked, fidgeting.

"Due east, no more than two kilometers. Even at a snails pace, we should make it there by sundown." They started down the stairway that led to the exit of the tower and headed outside. As he anticipated, the village was devoid of Titans. He pulled the map from his vest pocket and checked it, then pointed down the dirt road cutting through the city. "That's the way we go," he said.

"Okay, lead the way," she replied. They started down the dirt road, which was covered in weeds and grasses from years of disuse. Progress was slow, Aleo being injured forced them to travel slower than they normally would. Every so often Aleo would check the map to make sure they were on course. It wasn't until midday that the injured teen asked for a break by a small creek they had found cutting through the grasslands.  
"Hey, mind if we stop here?" He asked, panting. "I need to take a breather."

"Sure, I need a break as well." Linden replied. A few rocks were by the creek and she sat on one of them to stretch her legs out. Aleo caught his breath and stretched his back.

"We're making better time than I expected," he said when he eventually checked the map once more. "At this rate we could reach the checkpoint by sundown, if we keep up the pace."

"That's great! Aleo, I owe you one. We're going to live I know it!" she exclaimed excitedly.

He grinned sheepishly. "Well, thanks for the praise, but don't get too happy yet. To be honest I'm a little unnerved with how well this is going."

She looked at him, confused. "What do you mean?"

"Well, think about it. We've traveled over a kilometer, and in this whole time we haven't spotted a single titan? Not even one in the distance? I don't know, it just feels...off to me," he explained with a shrug. "This is titan country, so why haven't we seen any?"

She pondered what he had said for a moment, and then replied "I have no Idea, but I say we stop thinking about that and stay positive. We're getting closer to the checkpoint, you know!"

He couldn't help but frown. "Yeah, you're right," he said, standing. "Let's keep going."

Linden stopped smiling when he frowned, but gave a small nod. They kept walking on in silence. 


	2. Chapter 2

The day wore on slowly, until the sun began to sink to the horizon, the air turning a golden orange as afternoon changed to evening. Aleo frowned and stopped to read the map, then looked relieved. "Ah, okay. It's just past that cluster of trees," he said pointing to the small forest they now stood before. The relief left his face as it drained of color. "Just...oh great. I swear, if we made it this far only to run into a titan in there..."

Slightly panicked, Linden asked, "You see a titan?"

Aleo shook his head and pocketed the map. "No, not yet..."

Clumsily, he drew two sword blades from his non-damaged sheath. "But we might, so get your gear ready, and let's get past these woods before the sun sets."

Linden nodded, and put her hands on her blade handles, drawing out two blades. Cautiously, they entered the forest, staying on the dirt path which cut right through it. Leaves crunched under their boots as they walked, weapons ready, neither speaking. Then, a rather loud snap of a branch came from their right, and Aleo froze. "Stop," he hissed through clenched teeth.

Linden stopped suddenly and looked towards the sound of the noise. The woods remained silent. Then came another snap and a rumble as a tree fell to the ground. Loud, erratic grunts and breathing could be heard as the ground began to shake. Down in the woods, slowly lumbering through the dense trees, a 5 meter class titan stumbled towards the two scouts. Aleo looked at her. "Run!"

Panicked, she grabbed him by his waist harness and, using the 3D gear, hoisted them into a large tree. Aleo squealed and latched onto a branch, clinging to it for dear life once she let go of him. Without his gear to save him, he was deathly afraid of heights. He glowered at her as the titan stumbled up to the tree, and began pawing at it in an effort to reach its prey, to no avail. "What the hell?! We could have easily outrun that thing!"

"Me yes, but what about you?!" Linden retorted.

He frowned, she had him there. There wasn't a chance he could have outrun the titan. "Whatever..." he grumbled, looking down at the titan. "Well, now we're stuck here, with a titan beneath us, and the sun is about to set and leave us in the dark. So...what are we gonna do?"

"Well, before it gets dark, I say we try our best to kill this one before others come, get the gas, and get the heck outta here."

He looked down at the titan again. "Okay. You're the one with the working gear, so you'll have to kill him." He looked at the swords in his hands. "Not much I can do, unless...okay, I have a plan. But I need you to be REALLY quick when we execute it."

"What is it?" she asked, staring at the titan.

He gripped his sword handles tighter, his knuckles turning white. "I'm gonna jump down from here and cut it's eyes. But since I'll be close to its mouth, the SECOND I blind him, I need you to cut his nape. Alright?"

She was terrified of this plan, seeing that she wasn't good at doing these tricky maneuvers and stuff, but she nodded and said, "I'll get behind him first." She pointed to another tree behind it.

"I'll attack from there. but I got to go there fast so he doesn't have time to react. Right as I hit the tree, you jump down and hit the eyes."

"Got it," Aleo said. He adjusted the grips and crouched, ready to pounce. "Go!"

She leaped at the tree, launching the grapples at it. She turned around in midair and landed on the tree in a crouched stance. Linden prepared to launch herself forward. As soon as her boots touched the tree, Aleo jumped. The titan groaned and reached up to grab him, but missed. Aleo sunk the blades deep into its eyes, and twisted. The blades snapped in two with a metallic cracking noise. The titan screamed in pain, clawing at the blades in its eyes, as Aleo jumped to the ground and landed with a thud. "Now, do it!"

She pushed her legs against the tree, letting the grapples release, and aimed at the titan's neck. She shot them towards the said area and landed a deep blow at the nape. Linden rode the titan's body as it fell to the leafy forest floor, jumped off, and fell over onto the ground. Aleo let the shattered blade tangs fall from the grips and shakily got to his feet, titan blood steaming off his clothes. "Nice job," Aleo praised her. "Now let's get the hell out of this forest."

She shakily got up, and looked at her chipped blades. "I did it... I actually killed a titan." she breathed.

Linden had no doubt in her mind that she was trained well, but she never had confidence on the subject of actually killing a titan. She always sort of stayed away and let the others get at it. She'd never killed one before, and although she was inwardly proud of herself, she was still shaky from the action and her heart was pumping hard.

Aleo led them out of the forest, and there, at the end of the path, was a village similar to the one they had been in the night before, only smaller. In the middle was a dusty, vine covered brick building, with a torn and tattered scouting legion flag mounted atop it, flapping in the light breeze.

"There it is," Aleo said proudly. He began walking faster towards it. "C'mon, the sun is setting. Let's fuel up and make camp, we won't be able to see anything once it's dark."

Linden breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing the flag, and replied "Right!" She walked over to the station, too tired to run, which she would have done if she had more energy, and switched out her gas with some new gas, and the blades as well. "I'm so glad we made it this far." she marveled.

Aleo replaced his damaged blade sheath and restocked his gas and blades. "Yeah. Now we have a real fighting chance." It took a while, but he finally found some canned food among the dusty supplies. "Here," he said, giving her a little pouch of cans. "If you sort these out and figure out what's still good, I'll see if there's anything else we can use."

She took the pouch and peeked inside seeing a few cans, all without labels. "Alright! Boy am I hungry. I wonder what might be in these tin containers of delight?"

"Save me some!" Aleo called from the other room, digging through random crates and boxes of old supplies.

"Fine! If you insist!" She laughed, and then proceeded to open one of the cans of food. Inside were some beans. "My favorite kind of ration! Hey Aleo, I found BEANS!"

He mocked surprise. "Oh boy! The most scrumptious delicacy in the world!"

As she opened another can, she replied "Ohh you know me and my love for beans!" She looked down into the can and found a potato.

Aleo came back out, two packs of supplies on one shoulder. In his arms he held two flintlock muskets and a baggy of ammo and powder. "Hey, lookie what I found."

She looked at him. "Awesome! I haven't used one of these since training!" She put down the cans and held one of the muskets.

Aleo began toying with his, setting the packs down between them. "Not much use against titans, but I didn't want to leave these babies here to rot." He cocked the hammer. You any good with it? I don't remember much of the rifle training, I spent most of that time playing with cannons they brought in for us to use."

"I'm a decent shot. While dinner cooks, how's about we try out a few shots?"

He smiled and looked at the empty cans next to the cooking food. "I'm down for a little competition," he said cockily.

She grinned and said "You're on!" She then pointed to a chimney atop one of the nearby houses. "We'll try to hit that chimney!"

Aleo opened a window and set the ammunition on a small table by it between them. "Alright. We each get five shots, whoever hits most wins!" He said, ramming a round down the barrel.

She got her musket ready as well and asked, "Who's first?"

Aleo quickly took aim and fired off a shot, the musket letting out a thunderous boom and a puff of white smoke that drifted off. He grinned at her. "Me."

Linden went to the window and aimed as well. "No matter who goes first, I'll still win!" She then pulled the trigger, and missed the target.

Aleo raised an eyebrow and loaded the firearm again. "Really now?" He aimed again and fired, taking a chunk of brick off the chimney. "I was the one who hunted for the meat we ate in training, you think you can win this?"

They had great fun firing at the chimney, Aleo winning, and then they went to eat. Linden stirred the beans in a pot that was found among the supplies. The potato was cooking in the flames.

"How's the food coming?" Aleo asked as he fiddled with their packs, attaching an extra gas tank to either side of each so they'd both have a spare set of canisters. Once that was done, he moved to polishing the brass barrel of his rifle.

She took in a deep sniff of the food's smell and replied "It's coming great. Almost done now, and it smells DELICIOUS." She was obviously quite excited for the food.

Aleo grinned and slung his new musket over his shoulder. "Well, while you do that, I'm gonna take a leak," he said. As he neared the door he paused. "You think we should barricade this tonight, or no?"

"Might as well. Have fun by the way!"

"Will do," he called from outside.

For about a minute it was quiet, then he called from outside again. "Uh, Linden? Can you come here please? This... you need to see what's out here." He sounded frightened, but also a tad curious.

Worried, she replied "Coming." She stepped outside and asked, "What is it...?"

What she saw was absolutely terrifying, and the oddest thing a soldier could see. Aleo was backed up against the building by a 4 meter class titan. For a titan, it looked fairly normal, no deformities like most others. It wasn't attacking him though, only studying him with a curious look, head tilted to one side, as it watched the boy who was training his rifle on it.

Seeing Linden, he said quietly. "It's an abnormal, I think. Don't...don't startle it."

She stood there frozen for a moment but calmed herself and replied quietly! "Yeah, I won't. Should I go around slowly and attack?"

Aleo shook his head, slowly lowering his rifle. "No...no, not yet." Slowly, he started sidestepping, and the titan didn't stop him, just followed him with it's gaze. Soon, he was by Linden, the titan watching the both of them. "Has anything like this been seen before? Like, did Hanji ever mention anything?" He asked quietly.

"I overheard her talking with Captain Levi about a journal that was found in an old tree, left by a soldier in a similar situation to us, only way worse. A titan didn't attack, and even spoke. I didn't hear any more because Levi shooed me away."

"Damn," he said. He looked up at the titan. "I guess it's a good thing Hanji isn't here, she'd probably scare it off." Slowly, he took a step towards it, one hand raised up and out. "I wonder if..."

"Idiot, do you have a death wish?" She whispered, terrified, but too afraid to suddenly reach out and pull him back.

"Shh!" He shushed her. "Don't scare it off, do you know how useful this thing might be?" He stopped a few feet short of the titan. It was couching, so it only stood a foot or two over him. "Hey there buddy," he said in a soothing tone.

It tilted it's head and reached it's hand down, prodding his with one of its fingers. It showed no sign of aggression at all. He looked back at Linden. "Come on, I don't think he's gonna eat us."

Looking utter mortified, she whispered harshly, "Sorry, But I'm not going near that thing!"

Ironically, she was loud enough to gain the interest of the titan, which began shambling towards her, remaining crouched. Aleo drew his hand grips and locked in a pair of blades, but didn't draw them. He watched, because if it didn't attack, his assumption it was a docile aberrant would be proved.

Linden however immediately put her hands to her blades and drew them. "Oh shit, it noticed me!"

"Hey, easy! I don't think it'll hurt you, just...just don't fight it. Let's see what it does..." Aleo called.

"But what if it DOES attack?" Linden was starting to panic.

"Then I'll kill it! Just calm down!" The titan stopped before her, towering over the girl, eyes wide in its ever-curious expression. Linden stared right at it, completely terrified, and fell to her knees. Breaths came in short gasps. 'How do I breath again?' she thought to herself. It knelled in front of her, and with one hand, picked her up off the ground. It wasn't forceful like most titans though, and it only held her at eye level, making no attempt to harm Linden. Aleo released the swords but ran over around the titan to face it. It didn't notice him, just kept Linden suspended in mid air by the collar of her jacket.  
Linden didn't say anything, just stared at it, as it stared at her. She was utterly confused by the actions of the titan, and why Aleo was acting so strange, risking her life like that. So many thoughts added with her terror made her pass out.

When she came too, she was back inside the building, laying on a bed roll Aleo had acquired, his cloak draped over her. Aleo was by the window, cleaning his rifle, and lo and behold that same damn titan was outside it, watching him disassemble the musket and clean each and every part, it's expression unchanging.

"Uhhhg..." she groaned as she sat up.  
Aleo came over to her when he heard he wake. He knelt beside her. "Hey, you're awake. How you feeling?"

"I feel scared." She replied meekly.

He sighed. "I don't blame you. But hey, he didn't hurt you did he?"

"No..." she admitted reluctantly.

"Told you he wouldn't. But still..." he took a breath. "I'm sorry for putting you through that. It was stupid of me...can you forgive me, you think?"

She looked at him, and thought to herself how he must feel about it, and replied, "Yeah. Of course I forgive you. You're my friend."

He looked relieved. "Okay, good." He got back to his feet and retrieved the pot of still warm food. "Here, you should eat," he said, handing her the pot.

"Thanks," she replied, grateful for the food. She ate a few bites and then asked, "What happened while I was out?"

"Well, big guy," he motioned to the titan, "seems intent on staying around. Uh, other than him following me while I got stuff to make you a bed, you didn't miss much."

"Interesting..." she said, as she ate more of the beans. Then she added, "Maybe we should write about this on a crate or something. In case we do die... someone might discover the information." Then thinking ending it like that would upset her friend, she added, "Not saying we will die. I'm still intent on reaching the Wall."

Aleo nodded in agreement. "But I didn't find any notebooks or anything...and I doubt anyone even remembers this place is here."

True, but maybe we could write on a crate with the charcoal from the embers somehow." she said. "It might not do us any good, but we can do it anyway. Better to at least try on the off chance someone comes across this place like we did."

"True, but I'd rather not think we should consider that possibility," Aleo said. Suddenly he got an idea. "Hang on." He disappeared into the room over and returned with an arm full of maps a moment later. "We can use the backs of these and the charcoal from the fire."

"That will work! But before we start writing on any of them, maybe they had a map we could use instead of the one we have currently. Any maps of the close area up to the wall?

"He looked through them, and frowned. "No, none that I see."

"Ahh poo. I hate using the map we currently have." Linden thought complaining about the little things might bring back a bit of normalcy to them. She took one of the maps and a piece of charcoal and started writing about her observations of the titan.

"We should be fine though, all we need to do is go north. It's literally impossible to miss the Wall," he said with a laugh.

She smiled. "True. That thing is huge. When I was little, I always imagined that if I could climb it, I could touch the stars." She sighed from the feelings of nostalgia, but frowned as she remembered her dream.

"Well, we'll finally get to," he said. "Not like there is a gate for us too...hey, you alright?" He asked, seeing her frown.

Shaking it off, she replied "I'm just thinking of my dream."

He sighed. "Oh...yeah..." he laughed..."I was afraid my dream would be a reality when we found him," he motioned to the titan outside the window, who had since become inactive after a few hours with no sunlight.

She looked out the window. The titan seemed quite sleepy. "Well it didn't, and we have a good chance of getting back home. I can't wait to see the look on our team's face when they see us alive!"

Aleo smiled. "Hey, maybe they'll let us retire early..."

"That would be nice..." she said. "We should probably get some sleep though. It's late."

He yawned and found a dusty old couch to lay on. "Good point. We'll head out at first light, agreed?"

Linden yawned. "Agreed. Hey, this is your cloak. Do you need it?"

He shook his head. "Nah, use it as a pillow or something."

She folded the cloak and rested her head on it. "Goodnight."

Aleo yawned and rolled over on his side, using his arm as a pillow. "Goodnight Linden." 


	3. Chapter 3

As said before, Linden grew up in the town of Hermia. She often played with the neighborhood kids, and was kind of popular, but not by choice. She just wanted everyone to have a good time in the games they played, and everyone drew towards her for support. She was fourteen when Shiganshina fell, and although she felt safe inside the interior, she wanted to help those in harsher conditions. When she was old enough, she went to military training. Her parents told her to join the Military Police if she could, so she could visit often and stay safe. The Garrison were also preferable in case she didn't make it into the top 10. They strictly ordered her not to join the scouts so she wasn't in danger. However, while in training, she was inspired by Aleo, who was determined to join the scouts. She told her parents she wouldn't join the scouts, but she did anyway, and never told them. While in training, she became close friends with Aleo.

Aleo grew up in the town just In front of Trost. When wall Maria fell, his family was one of the first refugees to enter Wall Rose. His father was forced on the military mission to retake Wall Maria. He has a little sister, Mary, and his mother suffers from a sort of muscular disease that makes her perpetually weak. He joined the trainees to join the scouts and find a way to better mankind, rather than cowering behind the walls. Not for a cliche "I wanna help mankind" reason, but because he figured every titan he killed is one less than could get in Wall Rose and hurt his family. But the day the survivors of the mission came back constantly haunted his dreams...

"A-Aleo? The army people came back," Mary, Aleo's younger sister said softly, pulling on her older brother's pant leg. His face drained of color upon hearing the toddler's words.

"Okay Mary. You stay here with mom then, alright? I'll go look for dad," he said, kneeling down and giving his baby sister a hug.

He quickly left the small house the government gave his family to live in just behind the rear gate of the Trost District. Aleo ran into the district, following the crowd of people to the front gate. When the crowd was smaller than he anticipated, he knew there was a problem. Over 250,000 people had left on the mission to retake wall maria...so where were they?

The few soldiers who had made it back, just over 100, were all quite sickly. Many were pale, bruised and battered. A few had poorly damaged stumps where their arms were. Aleo scanned the soldiers quickly. His dad was in the Garrison, one of the few Garrison soldiers who left with the civilian army. His coat should be easy to spot. But all he saw were scout cloaks, and civilian "soldiers."

"Dad?" Aleo called, getting panicked. "Dad?! Dad, where are you?!"

A powerful voice came from his right. "What's your name, child?"

Aleo faced a tall member of the Scouts. "A-aleo Fletcher, sir."

The man had a solemn look on his weary face. "I see..." he uttered.

From his pocket, he pulled a pendant. It was a small one, with the garrisons logo on the front and a wall rose symbol on the back, held on by a piece of tough string. "Do you recognize this, Aleo?"

Aleo gulped, and could feel hot tears forming in the corners of his eyes. He nodded slowly.

The soldier gave him the pendant, not saying anything for a moment to the boy who clutched it in his hand as he began to weep. Finally, he said. "Your father was a brave man Aleo. He kept the abnormal pursuing us at bay. We are forever in his debt."

Aleo didn't register the words, just kept crying as he fell too his knees.

~~~~~~~ (Year 852)

The sun above was beating down on the cadets lined up in the camp courtyard. The sweat on the brows was partly due to the heat, but mostly from their intimidating new Commander. A tall man with a shaved head and dark circles under his eyes, he struck fear into all of them, screaming insults and questions each one, save a few. He then came to Linden, who seemed more than a little unnerved by the toughness of his welcoming speech.

"Who the hell are you tomato head?!" She was taken aback. She knew he was referring to her strawberry blonde hair, but she always thought of it to be quite pretty. She pushed the insult aside and answered with a salute "Linden Malkin from Hermia, sir!"

He then asked, "Ohh so you're from the interior ehh? Why would you want to become a soldier? Hmm? Too soft and cushy where you're from? You want some action, right?"

She yet again pushed the insult away and tried to reply strongly. "Sir, I want to be of at least some help, so I thought a soldier would work, sir!"

The commander smirked. "Well you picked the wrong place pip-squeak! You should go and help in the fields and make the food shortage just a tiny un-noticeably better!" he then went to the next cadet, being Aleo.

And who the hell are you, cue ball?" He asked, making an insult out of Aleo's closely clipped hair. Aleo, however, didn't pay this any mind. He saluted the drill instructor, sounding off a loud response. "Aleo Fletcher of Narako, sir!"

"Ah, so you lived in Wall Maria, huh? Tell me, how was it to watch your friends at home get eaten alive?"

Aleo scowled but didn't look him in the eyes. "Gory as all hell sir! But it couldn't have been worse then those bags under your eyes!"

The very second he said that, the entire battalion got quieter than it ever would be again. Only the wind and the instructor's coat flapping in it were heard. Aleo's eyes darted from side to side as he smirked, gauging people's reactions, making it clear he was gonna be the jokester of this batch of recruits. Linden started at him with shock, admiring his bravery inwardly, but at the same time she tried not to laugh.

The instructor smirked at the recruit, and then delivered a swift kick to his knee. There was an audible thump as his boot collided with the boys leg, who cried out in pain and fell to the ground. "I'm gonna have fun with you, kid." He stated colicky before moving onwards down the squad. Several cadets looked at each other, pondering if it was wise to help him.

Later after everyone was dismissed, Linden went over to him. "Hey, you alright?"

He slowly got to his feet, shaking his leg out. "Ahh...that's gonna bruise..." he met Linden's gaze. "Yeah, I'm fine, nothing hurt badly."

"Rub it." she advised. "It will help it to not bruise. At least not as much. It may hurt but rub it firmly."

He slowly knelt and began rubbing the side of his knee cap. "Thanks for the advice," he said. "So what's your goal after you graduate? Garrisons? MP's? God forbid, the Scout Regiment?"

Adjusting her jacket witch was askew or some reason, she replied, "Well my parents want me in the MP's, but I kinda want to choose for myself. I'm not so sure if I'll make it to the top ten, so probably the garrison. How about you?"

He stopped rubbing his knee and stood. "I'm thinking of joining the Scouts, to be honest."

She stared at him, startled a bit. "Scouts? Why so reckless?"

"Because every titan killed outside is one less that could get through the walls," he said simply. The alarm bell rang, signaling that it was time to head to the mess hall for the evening meal. "C'mon, let's continue this inside."

"Alright. I wonder what they'll have for dinner?" she wondered as they went towards the mess hall.

"Goat blood and moldy cheese," Aleo said nonchalantly, his face serious.

"Heh... heheh... you're kidding... right...?" she asked slowly.

He looked at her with a straight face. "Hey, waste not want not is their motto."

She looked heart-fallen. "Crap..." she muttered as she looked at the food being dished out to the cadets in line. She got a plate and got as little of the said food as possible, not wanting to make it look like she was disgusted even though she was..

As they sat down, Aleo took a large spoonful of the red liquid in the bowl, then looked up, trying not to laugh when he saw her face.

She took a small spoonful and sniffed it cautiously, and then plunged it in her mouth trying to get it over with as quickly as possible. She swallowed, and then sort of dry heaved.

"Ughh... no offense to the one who cooked this, but this is sick!" She exclaimed quietly, so not too many could hear her.

"I don't know, I think it's pretty good." He then picked up the bowl in his hands and began drinking straight from it, somewhat loudly.

She stared at him, and then looked down at her own bowl. "I think I'm going to be sick..."

He set the bowl down and grinned, teeth stained a bright red. "What, you don't like tomato soup?"

She stared at him with disbelief, and then a bit of anger. "It's just tomato soup?!" She said it a bit too loudly, and some of the other cadets looked at her. She blushed, embarrassed, and ate a big spoonful.

Aleo started snickering, and then began laughing louder until he was cracking up, eyes watering. "You...you should have...seen the look on your face! Priceless!" He stammered between fits of laughs.

Linden was so embarrassed that she started to cry a bit. She rubbed her eyes and tried not to show it, but failed, and just kept eating.

Aleo noticed her tears and promptly stopped laughing. "Woah, hey, sorry if I embarrassed you. I was just trying to have a little fun," he apologized, voice softening from its usual upbeat and snarky tone.

She looked up at him sheepishly "Ok... it's alright. I'm just a bit sensitive is all." Trying to cheer herself up, she gave a little laugh. "I have no idea how I survived ol'baggy eyes's rant about my tomato head."

"Yeah, I don't know what he was going on about about your hair," Aleo said. He reached over and brushed a bit of her bangs from her brow. "I think it's pretty."

She blushed and broke eye contact, not knowing what to say. After a pause, she breathed, "Thank you..."

He smiled softly at her. "Don't mind baggy eyes. Heh, it's gonna be my goal to annoy the piss out of him over these next three years, I'll get him back for it."

She smiled back. "Mind if I aid you in your epic quest'?"

"Not at all, the more the merrier. And you know we start gear evaluations tomorrow, so I'm trying to think of something already," he said with a laugh.

"Ohh tell me about it!"

(The next morning)

Cadets were lined up to try out the harnesses and test their balance on the gear straps. Aleo was in the middle of the line of his squad, with Linden parallel in the one next to him. As they slowly moved forwards, Aleo tried to keep from laughing, but failed and giggled a few times, making others throw odd looks in his direction. Linden also tried not to laugh, and the two exchanging glances often didn't help. After a while Aleo was up for his turn.

Aleo attached himself to the wires and the operator lifted him up. For a moment he actually tried and found balancing was incredibly easy. Then he deliberately flipped himself upside down, dangling in mid air with mock surprise on his face. The instructor noticed and stormed over to him.

"Well cue ball, not so easy is it?" He remarked, scowling down at the young boy.

Aleo tilted his head to the side. "What do you mean, commander?"

With a twitch of his ankles, the harness allowed him to right himself in a fluid motion. "It's easier than your mother, sir."

It was very hard for Linden not to laugh, so short snorts of laughter came from her. The other cadets stared at him wide eyed.

"What did he just say to the commander?" They whispered.

"I don't know...ooohh, this might get ugly..."

The commander glowered at Aleo. "Lower him," he said to the operator. Aleo was lowered back to his feet, and the commander undid the hooks from his harness. Then, he did a sweep kick to Aleo's leg, making him collapse to the ground. "Run."

Aleo coughed and tired to get to his feet. "W-what sir?"

"RUN YOU PIECE OF SHIT! AND DONT STOP UNTIL SUNDOWN!"

Aleo's face paled at the prospect. "A-and...if I say no?"

"Then I am going to tear out your fingernails. Up to you, skinhead."

Aleo backed off, and took off running around the entire camp. As he passed by Linden, he winked at her. They were in this together, after all, although he wouldn't blame her if she didn't fulfill her part.

The commander turned around towards Linden. "Tomato-head, you were snorting like a fat pig back there. Were you in on Aleo's little plan?"

She then looked at him, and tried her best to look as serious as she could. "Yes Mr. Baggy-eyes SIR!" Suddenly, pain shot through her leg and she fell to the ground. She sat up and said "You're pain is much appreciated, SIR!" She shouted somewhat awkwardly.

"You can run as well tomato-head!" As upset as she was at the thought, she knew her part and replied, "Yes Commander Baggy-eyes SIR!"

By this time Aleo was on his second lap. He ran up to Linden and picked her up by the shoulders. "Let's go Linden, lest he beats us with his wrinkles!" He said, giggling like an idiot.

Despite knowing he would probably make them run all day, she smiled and laughed, and they took off around the camp. 


End file.
